Cuban Deputy Minister for Foreign Trade and Investment DĂ©borah Rivas documenting the damage inflicted on Cuba by the US blockade, in her speech at the 12th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization. Photo: Twitter/@DEB_INVEXCUBA
Cuban Deputy Minister for Foreign Trade and Investment DĂ©borah Rivas denounced the economic and social impact of the US blockade on Cuba, on Monday, June 13, at the 12th Ministerial Meeting of the World Trade Organization held in Geneva.
Addressing the delegates present, the Cuban official stated that over the past six decades, the US siege has inflicted damage calculated at more than $150.4 billion.
“The Cuban economy is small and vulnerable,” said Deputy Minister Rivas, “not only for its tiny participation in world trade and its condition of a developing insular state, but also for the grave consequences derived from the application of the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States government, which was tightened in an unprecedented manner in the context of the pandemic.”
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El #bloqueo contra #Cuba es contrario a los propĂłsitos y principios de esta OrganizaciĂłn. Vulnera el derecho al #desarrollo de los #pueblos, al tiempo que socava la #promociĂłn del libre comercio…
â–¶ https://t.co/UjOZYwABtf#MC12 #OMC #Comercio #MINCEX pic.twitter.com/OTzWQesdGk— MINCEX🇨🇺 (@MINCEX_CUBA) June 13, 2022
The US blockade against Cuba constitutes the biggest hurdle to Cuba’s trade relations with the world and the main obstacle to the nation’s development, the Cuban representative noted.
As an example of the impact by the US blockade, the official stated that from January to July 2021, the effect of the US siege on the island’s foreign trade—applied through intimidation of banks, companies and businesspeople that were willing to do business with Cuba—translated into $923,829,000. “It is an act of economic war in peacetime,” decried the Cuban official.
DeclaraciĂłn de la viceministra DĂ©borah Rivas Saavedra en la XII Conferencia Ministerial de la #OMC.
#MC12 #CUBA #MINCEX #Comerciohttps://t.co/UjOZYwScRP— MINCEX🇨🇺 (@MINCEX_CUBA) June 13, 2022
On its official Twitter account, the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Investment of Cuba denounced the US government for its unprecedented strengthening of the blockade during the COVID-19 pandemic, and called it a flagrant violation of the principles and norms of the multilateral global trade system.
Rivas said that the US blockade runs against the aims and objectives of the World Trade Organization since it impedes the development of nations, undermines free trade in the benefit of the people, and therefore, it must be condemned.
“Cuba will continue to push for a just and equitable multilateral trade system, without discrimination, that would help in reducing the existing inequalities and promoting sustainable development of the peoples,” concluded Rivas.
(ACN) with Orinoco Tribune content
